Morris tribune., 1887-12-07
SCIENTIFIC MlcELLANY

Decimal Units.-As the Metric
System of Weights and Measures
grows in universal favor, the need OF
a uniform decimal currency aud OF u
decimal system of time nsFas.'re
ment is becoming generally felt.
Most countries already possess some
form of decimal money, anu even
England is waking up to the adyant-
ages of decimal units. A recent
scheme for decimalizing the pound
sterling waswell supported, the plan
being to adopt the mill as the unit
and divide the sovereign int" lOOO
mills, thus making the half-sOvereign
equal 500 mills, the crown ESQ, the
double form 200, the half crown l25,
the form 100, the shilling so, and the
sixpence 25. In Wiesbaden step IN
decimal housekeeping has been taken.
A new clock divides the day into 10
hours, the minute into 10 seconds,
and the second into 10 rays. Similar
units take the place of the usual de-
grees, minutes and seconds in the d.
vision of The circle.
Pneumonia Explained.-ii is gener-
ally supposed that pneumonia IL due
to the accidental penetrati"n OF
specific microbes into The system,
but the observations OF NJ. Jaccoud.
French student Of the subject, show
that the disease really results from
the development under favorable con-
ditious of microbic germs permanent
ly present i'm the system. A chief
condition of such development is Il
sudden chill, which explains the fire.
quent coincidence of lung affections
with abrupt changes of temperature.
A Developing Art.-Probably no
application of science is advancing
more rapidly than photography.
Among recent appliances are IL detec-
tive camera in the tsrm OF watch,
with charm to hold supply of
miniature dry-plates, and telescope
camera in which distant objects are
brought near by telescopic aid and
photographed. Modern dry-plates
have made the camera quite avaiia-
bile at night, and exquisite pictures
are now taken by moonlight and
even by starlight.
Dwellers in Darkness.-The cave
animals of North America, according
to Prof. A. S. Packard, comprise q
total of 172 species of blind creatures,
nearly all of which are white in color.
Work of Five Years.-PrOf. J. A.
Fleming, the English electrician,
shows that in 1881 an electric dynamo
for 1900 lights weighed ASSOC pounds,
the armature weighed $500 pounds,
the space occupied was $50 cubic feet,
the horse power required was lbs,
and the commercial efficiency was
81 per cent. The 1887 machine with
an armature of 1868 pounds, weighs
11,760 pounds, occupies about $50
cubic feet, requires about liz horse
power, and has commercial
efficiency of over copper cent. A given
current costs olIe-fourth as much as in
1882.
A Curious Discovery.-In the tar
tar of teeth from skeletons of the
stone age, Mr.. Charters White, of the
Odontogical Society of Great Britain,
has found specimens nf the food
eaten by our prehistoric ancestors
5000 years or more ago. The frag-
ments identified include portions of
corn husks, spiral vessels from vege-
tables, starch hysks, fruit cells. the
point of a fishe8 tooth, aud bits Of
wool, feathers and cartilage,
Surgical Progress.--At two of the
leading hospitals of Paris the DEATH
rate from amputations of all kinds
has fallen from so per cent in 1880 to
about Is per cent at present.